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A closed hotel door hides all kinds of secrets. We challenge you to design “the key” that will open the door of all Rusticae hotels. Can you enter? Talents United and Rusticae join forces as they launch the challenge “The keys that open Rusticae hotels”. Three exceptional designs will be selected, with which the “Club of those who love the detail” will create an edition of collectible cards that will be included inside gift boxes of the brand.

The main design motif has to be a key, but there are no limitations regarding creation, style, theme and composition, these are totally free and it is allowed to utilize any type of paper printing technique. With this action, Rusticae, the leading club of boutique hotels in Spain, aims to promote and recognize the illustration, design and creativity of the participating artists. Also its aim is to find out how the artists percept the Rusticae brand image.

The deadline for submitting the designs is June 1st, 2018. Therefore, participants will have a month to submit their proposals, which must be uploaded to the open challenge. Previous registration to Talents United required.

The jury will be composed of three members of the Rusticae team, including Isabel Llorens, co-founder of the Club, as well as relevant figures from the world of art and design such as Arturo Melero, creative director of Monobo, Ricardo Basurto, Art Director and editor of Loff.it, Óscar Llorens, designer and illustrator and Pedro Jareño, founder of Minube and expert in tourism marketing. The jury will select three winners, artists who demonstrate aesthetic quality, artistic expression and the adaptation to the philosophy and values ​​of Rusticae. Winners will each receive a prize of €600.

Design the keys that will open the doors of the Rusticae hotels. And if you want … go inside.

It is already open the V Edition of the Public Beta Challenge and we want to review what is it and some changes we have over the previous edition held in May 2017.

Again, our goal this year is to continue the consolidation of the event, increasing the exposure
and public assistance to the showcases.

For starters, this year we maintain the number of creators that will be part of the Choreographic Showcase. We will have a total of 6 companies so that we can ensure all of them will perform both days, June 2nd and 3rd, with their piece that should be between 10
and 15 minutes max.

Also we maintain that one of the groups invited will be by users´ voting in TALENTS UNITED, just one group this edition like last year´s. We aim to achieve a high level of quality while maintaining an incentive for creators to activate their social networks.

Thanks to the collaboration of C.C. Paco Rabal of the Madrid Community, this edition we can offer a small stipend, estimated now at 150 €, to the selected creators for their participation both days. We can also offer again travel aids. Spanish companies, nonresident in Madrid, will have a 100€ aid and International companies will have 200€ per group to encourage participation from anywhere..

Oficial image for V Edition of BETA PÚBLICA

Again we will have some of the creators, as preferred paid artists on our Program, targeting Madrid High Schools, called “Una Mañana en Danza”. We just had our fourth year of the Program last February with close to 40 schools and 3.000 kids. With the participation of creators from previous Editions of Beta Pública. We hope to repeat the experience in February 2019 with some of the creators selected for this V Edition. We are working to create new opportunities for creators to continue presenting and growing their choreography.

Nothing more, I hope you are all eager to propose your projects for the Challenge so we will, thanks again to Talents United , start seeing all your wonderful proposals.

We’ve opened the IV Edition of the Public Beta Challenge and we want to review what is it and some changes we have over the previous edition held in April 2016.

Again, our goal this year is to continue the consolidation of the event, increasing the exposure and public assistance to the shows.

For starters, this year we maintain the number of creators that will be part of the Choreographic Show. We will have a total of 6 companies so that we can ensure all of them will perform both days, may 20th and 21st, with their piece that should be between 10 and 15 minutes max.

Also we maintain that one of the groups invited will be by users´ voting in TALENTS UNITED, just one group this edition like last year´s. We aim to achieve a high level of quality while maintaining an incentive for creators to activate their social networks.

Dancers performing in the III Beta Pública

Thanks to the collaboration of C.C. Paco Rabal of the Madrid Community, this edition we can offer a small stipend, estimated now at 150 €, to the selected creators for their participation both days. We can also offer for the first time this year travel aids. Spanish companies, nonresident in Madrid, will have a 100€ aid and International companies will have 200€ per group to encourage participation from anywhere.

Again we will have some of the groups, as preferred paid artists on our Program, targeting Madrid High Schools, called “Una Mañana en Danza”. We just had our third year of the Program last February with over 30 schools and 2.400 kids. With the participation of creators from previous Editions of Beta Pública. We hope to repeat the experience in February 2018 with some of the creators selected for this IV Edition. We are working to create new opportunities for creators to continue presenting and growing their choreography.

Dancers performing in the III Beta Pública

Finally, just to remember that we continue our collaboration with the Artistic Dance Exchange (ADE) Competition in New York City. Thanks to this collaboration we exchange invitations for creators selected in both initiatives. One of the selected creators in this IV Edition of Beta Pública will receive an invitation to perform in the next ADE Completion in New York (January 2018).

Nothing more, I hope you are all as eager as I am for the Challenge to open, thanks again to TALENTS UNITED , and to start seeing all your wonderful proposals.

We’re about to open the III Edition of the Public Beta Challenge and we want to review what is it and some changes we have over the previous edition held in April 2015.

Our goal this year is to continue the consolidation of the event, increasing the exposure and public to the shows.

For starters, this year we maintain the number of creators that will be part of the Choreographic Show and will be only 6 companies so that we can ensure all of them will perform both days, April 22nd and 23rd, with their piece that should be between 10 and 15 minutes max.

Also we maintain the groups invited by users´ voting in TALENTS UNITED, just one group this edition like last year´s. We aim to achieve a high level of quality while maintaining an incentive for creators to activate their social networks.

Thanks to the collaboration of C.C. Paco Rabal of the Madrid Community, this edition we can offer a small stipend, estimated now at 200 €, to the selected creators for their participation both days. We still cannot subsidize travels and stays in Madrid but we have been able to confirm a fixed amount per group to encourage participation from anywhere.

Again we will have some of the groups, as preferred paid artists on our Program, targeting Madrid High Schools, called “Una Mañana en Danza”. We will have our second year of the Program from February 10th to 19th. With the participation of creators from previous Editions of Public Beta. This year we will have 24 high schools and almost 2.000 students from 12 to 17 years for a “Morning of Dance”. We hope to repeat the experience in February 2017 with the creators selected for this III Edition. We are working to create new opportunities for creators to continue presenting and growing their choreography.

Finally we want to announce we have close a deal with a similar initiative in New York City , the Artistic Dance Exchange (ADE) Competition so that we can exchange invitations for creators selected in both initiatives. One of the selected creators in this III Edition of Public Beta will receive an invitation to perform in the ADE Completion in New York (November 2016).

Nothing more, I hope you are all as eager as I am for the Challenge to open, thanks again to TALENTS UNITED , to start seeing all your wonderful proposals.

Human beings can’t perceive speed well, they’re just able to discern acceleration, either to increase speed or decrease it. That’s why, sometimes, even though we are moving, it seems we are still, and it’s necessary that something around us show us we’ve moved, that we are in a completely different place from the beginning.

Today is a special day for Talents United, because we are launching changes that we’ve been working on, little by little, without the community knowing. These changes make us move forward on the path we set for ourselves, taking us further from the last station we were in.

Deep down it’s just a little collection of functional improvements we’ve been treasuring these past few months, and they are still very far from our destination. But they are important because they are the basis of a great change in community building and artists and challenges visibilities, both milestones are very important to get to that destination. A destination that, actually, will transform into another pit stop when we reach it, to keep moving forward with all of you.

New fields in the user profile

Even though we know a lot of creators need anonymity as a tool to create, to isolate themselves to get a running start, it’s been a while since we had the need to get to know more of all of you to be able to give you a better service. The project grows, not only in users, but in challenges and other elements that surround the community, and we knew we were upsetting some of you and failing to inform others.

We’ve changed the geolocation system, integrating it with a Google base, so you can tell us exactly which city or country you’re in (or you feel you’re in). We will use this information to offer you challenges or services closer to you. But don’t be afraid, it’s not an obligatory field, we are not going to force anyone to tell

New geolocation system in Talents United

We’ve also added a language selector, in order to manage communications better, this way, each one of you will receive the information in your preferred language, always within the languages we use in the community that, by now, are only English and Spanish.

Lastly, we included more optional information at your service, so you can show better who you are and what you do: Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin profiles and up to three personal websites.

New user profile page in Talents United

Possibility to follow other artists

Until now, Talents United offered an excellent space to come across new artists and artistic proposals, a place to find inspiration. Nonetheless, it was very difficult to treasure this quest.

From now on, when you find an artist that you think is interesting and worth keeping track of, you can click the new button “Follow”, and we will keep you updated on their movements. Initially, while we settle the basis of these new relationships, it’ll be testimonial information, but the intention is that, soon, we could inform you about the new project someone you follow has posted, or if they are participating in a challenge in which your vote could help.

Thoughts

It is possible that some artists only express themselves through their works; nonetheless we are convinced that a lot of you would like to share your thoughts on other artists, some of your pieces or any other thoughts going through your heads.

New space for “thoughts” at user’s profile in Talents United

So we’ve reserved a space in the user profiles so you can collect those thoughts and, most importantly, share them with others, because anytime you post your thoughts, we will notify those following you so they can read it and, soon, even comment on it.

These categories were only visible after registering a project for a challenge and, at the end, when finalists and winners were posted. But it wasn’t enough, so we’ve added a selector on the challenges so the participating proposals can be filtered by categories, like this we can see who are really competing against each other and who aren’t.

Categories selector on the Challenges page

As you can see, a lot of small things making a great advance for us that we’ll try to reinforce soon with new improvements. In the meantime we encourage you to update your user profiles and to find artists to follow. Let’s keep building together a great artists community.

#BenidormbyTalents consisted of three consecutive challenges to obtain three key pieces in the new identity of the Benidorm brand: a logo, a slogan and a pattern. The three challenges were announced consecutively from November, the last one ending at the beginning of March. The result, even though we couldn’t find a slogan, is very satisfactory and many people participated, we thank you for that.

Besides, the challenge was complex, so we decided to add three prestigious independent members to the jury that would be picking the winners: Ricardo Basurto, designer and Loff.it publisher, Pedro Jareño, tourism marketing consultant and Minube’s founder, and Wences Sanz, designer and Fjord’s Business Development Manager.

Challenge #1, the logo

A logo has a huge specific weight in every brand identity, that’s why it was the first challenged we conceived, and also why the prize was awarded with a bigger funding (3.000 € for the winner and 600 € for each one of the runner-ups).

We could also notice the importance of the challenge for its participation; it was the challenge with the biggest number of proposals, 159 proposals from 95 artists.

Challenge #2, the slogan

The slogan challenged had a special complexity: verbalizing Benidorm’s essential characteristics, that is, the best urban beach in the Mediterraneum. And, fatally, it became an unconquerable challenge.

Despite the fact that 50 artists were involved in offer ideas (we received 132 proposals), the jury wasn’t capable of finding one that met the expectations that were put in the new city logo. So the challenge was declared void.

We have also been fortunate to have projects from many countries (Germany, Italy,UK, Portugal, Brazil, Japan ..) and from almost all of Spain’s Autonomies. That means that PUBLIC BETA is starting to be relevant at a national and international level, just what we need to make it a sustainable project.

Selected projects for Public Beta, 2015 Edition

Unfortunately we will not be able to give a chance to everyone in PUBLIC BETA, as would love to ! But want to give you from here, a BIG THANK YOU for your interest, passion and support.

We hope to make again a great Showcase on April 24th and 25th April in the CC Paco Rabal of Madrid and thus be able to count with many proposals for the next edition whose dates we will promptly publish on our social networks

Thanks again to all for your participation either by presenting projects or voting them ☺

Third installment about jury members of challenge #Benidormbytalents (logo, slogan and pattern). It’s time for Ricardo Basurto, the elegant designer and publisher of the very elegant Loff.it magazine.

Ricardo Basurto; una de sus fotos oficiales.

Ricardo is a man from the media; he proves that as publisher of loff.it and, specially, because he spent a lot of time at Unidad Editorial. We shared some years there, time enough to become good friends.

As visiting loff.it can be seen, Ricardo loves details and elegance. But he’s also very innovative: he was a pioneer using Twitter for TV programs during his time in VEO7.

How did you professionally landed on design?
By chance and against the tide. I had a Design teacher in high school, it was a subject and he was an architect. I had to take my exams in June because I didn’t pass despite my passion for the subject. That bad experience carried me towards English Philology, but the same September I had to start in college I accompanied a friend to the Plastic Arts and Design School because she was going to enroll, and I couldn’t get out of there until I got in my hand the grade for the senior final project. It was the start of an intense relationship, both professional and vital. Design is (and there’s where I found it) in the deepest part, in the way we move around the world, watching, interpreting, recollecting, creating. Creativity is perhaps one of the most stimulating processes. And design is a multidimensional field in which creativity is as necessary as is capable. And it’s a constant challenge.

Which requisites do you think a good logo should have?
Emotion. I think, both in the personal and professional fields, that whatever the emotion linked to an experience, to observation and to understanding, the result is exponential. If the parameters on which we built an image, a logo, are erroneous, its value is always negative, even more if it includes an emotion. If they are correct and in the development you can put together the communicational needs and, at least one emotion, the result works and not only adds, but multiplies. The emotion linked to a brand is a memory, an experience, an evocation, a sense, a taste, a touch or an instant. It’s what it transmits, what moves us. In numbers, for every logo, for every brand, the criteria about good or bad should be bound to the emotional result: there’s no room for anything that subtracts or gives a void result, only that whose result is able to move, come and stay. Even more the tourism, bound to the best moments of our lives, intense moments, happiness and leisure, emotions. There are very few sectors in which the care of emotions by a brand is so imperative as in tourism.

What do you think Crowdsourcing can do for a project?
For many years I considered future belonged to ideas, until a dear friend, Jaime, pointed out I was wrong: the future belongs to the ideas that become a reality. Almost every idea deserves to come to life, to have a chance. And everyone should have the opportunity to participate, to be a part of the good ideas. Freely. I believe in what the human being is capable of creating, of imagining, of developing alone. But I believe infinitely more in which a society is able to build (and destroy) together, adding up. Collective effort is one of the best success warrantees, a big effort from a few or a little effort from a lot of people. If the talent is there, but not the capital, what a great human response is to contribute, a little or a lot, in its development. The formula is great and I want to believe that, within crowdsourcing, lies the seed of another big moment of evolution for our world, one we weren’t expecting: all sorts of ideas becoming realities, ideas multiplying. As a concept, never before in history we could find such a high number of materialized projects being generated, being developed.

Your favorite art discipline (aside design)
Ah, impossible. I can’t remove, or sieve. I could tell you which one I like the least, the one I’m not interested in, but I can’t segregate one out of all of them. Expression is a vital organ, it’s necessary, and art is too; what and who we’ve been, what and who we are even. I find in ever art discipline an excuse or a reason for existing itself, a goal, a valve, fuel, the most beautiful pieces and the least ones. I’m passionate about a clock’s mechanism, the spectacular work of engineering and talent, of art, behind Breguet’s tourbillion, from 1801, but I’m also passionate about Rodin’s sculptures. If you would ask me about an artist, a designer, an architect… it happens the same. Each one, as the era of their works, takes up a fundamental place in the essence of who we are. But I’m passionate about art because it’s personal and in some way, free, I’m passionate when it’s a limitless contribution.

Wall. Picture by Ricardo Basurto

What do you think about the Talents United project?
I’m fascinated by it. Same as with the crowdsourcing, I think Talents United is one of those wonders that allows ideas and talent being alive and develop. It will be easy knowing how each portfolio has influenced the artistic and professional life, in the development of a talent in an individual way, but I don’t think we are yet conscious of what a project like Talents United can suppose for art and society, of how it can help development, or the ability of getting better, of learning, of motivating, even inspiring another talent to start blooming. And in this, everybody wins, no one subtracts, no one stays immune. Every talent, every portfolio, ever work presented in Talents United helps everyone improving. I believe that it’s so indispensable that it could only come from talent itself.

Your best work as a design professional
The one I haven’t done yet. Maybe it’s not the next one, but the next one will be better than all of the prior ones. Nevertheless I think Loff.it it’s one of the most interesting things I created, in every aspect. A challenge of 4 years of continuous design and development. It’s a living being (also in the graphic) that develops, evolves, adapts and has been taking surprising forms, developing members with great personalities that give entity to a global and harmonious being at the service of information. If I had to highlight one, this would be it, but it’s not the last either.

Your worst work
The first one, for sure, in all of the others I find some progress, some improvement. That first one was also my first order, an interior design and architecture studio had to develop the corporative image of the Redes Natural Park, in Asturias. I was in my last year of college and I opened a minuscule design Atelier. I didn’t charge much and the probably charged as much as any consolidated company. It was a complete corporative identity work that still survives today, the natural park keeps using the same identity, even when the colors have faded, stained… And even when I consider it my worst work I think that it was interesting for being 1993. I have a special affection for it, as I’d have for a wounded pet.

Did you know Benidorm before? What is your perception about the city as tourist destination?
Who doesn’t know Benidorm! I’m more fond of lost places, of getting far from the usual circuits, I have my own place in the world that’s very far, to take the necessary distance to observe, to reflect and find myself before getting lost in the winter and the crowd again. But I think Benidorm is one of those places in which one finds what they want to find to live the experience they want to live. The conveniences of a big city and the charm of a beach vacation. Every possibility for a tourist destination. And the climate, and the sea, that unique Mediterranean…

How would you define your current Project, Loff.it?Loff.it is a lifestyle magazine and it’s a lifestyle in itself. It’s a social media and format. The “starting note”, the first aroma, is in the beauty of the things, the places, the people, the actions, the “heart note” is an harmonious space of shape and function, esthetic and ethic; and the “base note” is a clear hedonist intention, a way of understanding and living life based on a personal conviction: “the only commitment with life is being happy”. Loff.it is not materialistic, but it is esthete, it’s not what is expensive, but the work that is well done, the quality; it’s not what you desire, it’s what you build, what you create, and above everything, it’s the person, the one that’s out, the one that’s in, it’s aspiration and inspiration evenly split, the beauty, the useful, both if possible. And it’s a society model, a business model, in which the only structure is the implication and each person’s work, we are all part of the achievements, of successes and distributions in the fairest way we could find: the equitable distribution of the group, of what we are able to get off the ground, of achieving because of effort and personal work. Loff.it is a magazine and it’s the cradle in which we’ve conceived a life project much more ambitious, as tiring as it is gratifying.

Loff.it, a great work. But, best is just to come

What do you renounce in design or, at least, what you are the most tolerant about its decreasing?
Personal expression. The impression, individual style, is a pattern that’s hard to quit, but I understand design as a profession, not as a service, not as artistic expression. Graphic communication and, as that concept, process and result must respond to the premises, to function. A good designer must be eclectic, versatile and prolific, able to move with the same skill in various styles, shapes, to be able to respond to any demand, any necessity. Personal expression is a graphic frontier as unlimited as it is circumscribed to such a reduced environment as ego.

We’re a few days away to finish the registration of participants in April 2015 Edition of the PUBLIC BETA Challenge and we want to take this opportunity to remind you the deadline date, March 15, and make some announcements.

As you know our goal this year is to consolidate the event and ensure its viability. We are working to offer more opportunities to the selected choreographers in addition to the small amount of money (€ 200) we have secured thanks to the collaboration of the C.C. Paco Rabal of the Madrid Community.

We are very happy to let you know that we have reached an agreement with ARTS LAB SERIES, a well-known and experienced Art Networking Platform in New York City with our shared vision and goals.

The agreement will make one the choreographers participants in PUBLIC BETA APRIL 2015 EDITION the featured guest artist at the Choreographic Showcase they will produce at the end of 2015 and one of the New York´s choreographers, who has participated in any of its previous editions, will be guest artist at the next edition of PUBLIC BETA. We are working to secure financial aid to fund travel and subsistence of the exchange choreographers. Isn´t it great?

Another opportunity is that we will have some of the selected groups on our new program, targeting Madrid High Schools, and called “Una Mañana en Danza”. We have done the first sessions of the program the past February 3rd to 6th and we will repeat the experience in October 2015 with creators selected for this April 2015 edition.

I hope you feel encouraged to participate with your proposals in PUBLIC BETA. You only need to register, if you’re not already, in TALENTS UNITED, post your project and enroll it in the Challenge .

We’re tackling the second installment about jury members of the challenge #Benidormbytalents (logo, slogan and pattern), interviewing Wences Sanz, a committed designer.

Wences Sanz

Wences has done so many things surrounding design that you really don’t know where to start describing his career: designer, of course, Yorokobu columnist, contestant in design awards, active collaborator in encouraging and developing design and jury member of many events and design awards. Now he’s exploring other paths as Business Development Manager in Fjord, the prestigious design and innovation agency.

How did you professionally landed on design?
Mainly through advertising. My father worked in a serigraph company and when I was a kid he brought home some of the materials they printed. They were advertising campaigns and, since then, I started being interested in typography, colors, composition, etc.

Which requisites do you think a good logo should have?
First, it has to be good, well made, something that not always happens. And how do you know it is good? Well, at least it has to be a truly original work. It has to identify with the client and communicate well. It has to be simple, flexible, avoiding trends and try to be long-lasting. And a lot more, this is more complicated than some people believe.

What do you think about the Talents United project?
It’s really interesting. I’ve been following it since the beginning and I’ve seen some of the projects that were developed, which allowed me to get to know big talents that I haven’t encounter before.

Your best work as a design professional.
Even though it’s not properly a design job, it does have a relationship with the design community, it was the creation, development and management of one of the most important design and creativity events in Madrid, MadinSpain. I don’t play a part or have any relationship with the project right now, but it was something that was created with the mindset of how to plan the kind of event I would want to attend as part of the audience. I was lucky enough to meet some of my favorite designers, as well as discovering many others.

Your worst work.
have many routine works, or at least that I took as routine, that are simply correct, if not rubbish, hahahahaha. In any case, I try not to think too much about bad works, but about the projects that failed, to try and learn from them and always look ahead to improve. Anyway, I’m sure both my worst work and my best work are yet to come.

Did you know Benidorm before? What is your perception about the city as a tourist destination?
I’ve known Benidorm since I was little. I’ve spent several family vacations in that city in different moments of my life. I’ve always thought it was an awesome place. I’m a very urban person and the fact of going to the coast and being in a city with those huge buildings, for me, as a kid, was amazing.
I have the impression that Benidorm is an international tourist destination, because you see many bars and restaurants addressed to German or English tourists. It’s also a place with good installations for a good price, but there are way too many visitors.
Lately, I relate Benidorm with Low Festival, where they have one of the best bills of Spanish music festivals.

Fjord is a reference in the field of interaction design, what makes it so special?
We would like for people to know us as design services consultants more than interactive designers. We have a way of facing the projects that is different from other design studios, our methodology assures that our works have a minimum margin of error. And we involve the client a lot. From the beginning.

We are not a company that you can request something from and forget about it until the actual work presentation. The client is present from the very beginning and that allows us to get to know them better and making something that best adapts to their needs. And we are doing fine 🙂

The world is a better place with your nice letters, another project from Wences Sanz

Your role in Fjord now is a little further from design, what motivated this change? Are you still designing?
On one side there was a motivation to keep learning. I was a freelance for a while and I missed the need of team work, of evolving, of learning from other talented people.

Now I don’t design, but I’m involved in the projects, so I’m not that far away from that creative side. And I also like the side of business development, which is also a part of designing.

But sometimes I do collaborate as a designer, like a recent opportunity with Fedrigoni (paper manufacturer) in a joined exhibition with several other professionals and design studios